Author: rkcdlitt

December 18 Sing

Sing, song – thankfully, these are all around us. We sing the psalms in church; “of thee I sing.” We sing songs in popular culture. I go back to Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing.” Unfortunately, I can no longer jitterbug. One of my favorite songs is, “With a Song in my Heart,” the biopic of Jane Froman and from the musical Spring by Rodgers and Hart. But my favorite song is simply “Sing.” Whether you like the version from the Muppets or from the Carpenters doesn’t matter, although I prefer Karen Carpenter singing it.

When I hear Karen signing this, it brings me comfort; it brings me closer to God and His Holy Creation.

I love when we sing the Lord’s Prayer in church. It is so beautiful even when sung by my gruff base voice. God and Lord Jesus hears us praying in song, and this is a blessing for all mankind.

© Russell Kendall Carter

Buzz feeds – all around us, filling our day with noise, incessant noise. All day long we get questions on our cell phones, from Facebook, asking our opinions and wants on a myriad of topics not related to anything. We are bombarded by this circumforaneous noise, these inconsequential questions. We are part of a society that has developed a revolving showcase of trivialities. It is impossible to know where our attention is now, in this moment.

When we take the time to end this bombardment in our minds, turning off the radio, the music stations, the news, and our cellphones, we can be in the moment. We can bring ourselves into our true beings as children of God. We can accept His Bounty, His Word, His Truth. And we will discover that inner force of solitude and attention to our true beings. We enter silence; we empty our minds; we pray for God’s Words to fill us.

In this silence, this desert, our attentiveness is filled with our reservoir of love, hope, and peace within. This is why Jesus entered the desert; this is why when we meditate, we enter our own desert, our own seclusion from the too many questions. We enter God’s reality. John writes, “in the beginning was the Word. . . and the Word was God.” Where is my attention? My attention is with the Word – the bountiful Word of God. When we leave our deserts, we turn our attention to God’s wishes for the world.

Our lives are bountiful due to the Grace of God. We cherish this bounty given by the ethics and teachings of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We pray with thanksgiving for the light of God that Jesus shows us. We cast aside the incessant buss feeds that pester us. By sharing God’s bountiful Love, we journey together as a powerful force, sustaining faith, hope, love, and charity. We invite God to walk with us in His bountiful Grace of Love, Truth, Life, and Hope. . . but only when we walk together in God’s bountiful creation.

© Russell Kendall Carter

We await God’s presence, alert, watching for the shining light shining on the lighted path of Truth and Love. We are blessed by the presence of Jesus in our learning and the Holy Spirit in our lives. The wisdom and ethics that Jesus taught is graciously given because we are God’s children. I have read so much about using God’s blessing to seek justice for all of our friends and neighbors. I pray each day for guidance to bring my prayers into being as I open my heart with God’s love and caring.

We need to hear God’s voice; we need to feel God’s presence to conduct this challenging task. Sometimes, however, we cannot hear, we cannot feel. We lose hope, especially reading about the possibility of wars all around the globe and even in our own country. We are scared! We fear going to a popular place or to a mall for shopping because there might be a crazed gunman angry at himself or the world. But I think back to the times described in the Bible, Israel being overrun by neighbors, religious leaders determined to kill Jesus, and two or three hundred years later, people with ideas that did not agree with church leaders being excommunicated or even burned at the stake. I ask if anything is really any more dangerous today.

I apologize in advance to philosophizing. I look at my life and the lives of my children and grandchildren. We are all blessed by God’s goodness and Love. You and I are not different. God blesses us. Knowing that I live the life that pleases God, I have very little fear of external events. I know that God is with me and my family. I know that God is with you and your family. We suffer pain, we suffer loss, but we are comforted by God’s presence. This is just as true in times of quiet as it is in times of trial.

I memorized this line when I was in grammar school and Sunday school: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.” We recognize this from Psalm 23. A former shepherd boy wrote these words. We revere in God’s Love and protection. As we approach Christmas in this Advent season, let us share our gladness of God’s Love and fear no evil.

 © Russell Kendall Carter

Stay Awake! Be quiet! God will come to you. As we sit in meditation, we sometimes feel abandoned. We are in too much of a hurry to really empty our minds of the mundane demands of our decadent society. We must practice being quiet. As with our television boxes, we must push the reset button to get the program we crave. With our minds, we may have to hit this reset button over and over again before we are able to experience true quiet and solitude in our active brains.

We leave our self-imposed wildernesses to prepare a way for God to enter our consciousness; the ritual and practice we follow to prepare us to be a true contemplative are necessary for deep understanding of the teachings and ethics of Jesus. During Advent, we are in a time of exalted expectation; we open our hearts to receive the shining light that Jesus brings and find strength in His Glory.

Personally, I devote ample time to experience the intensity and awareness of being alive in Christ’s light. I possess no knowledge that was not given me by our God. Jesus reminds us about material wealth when he invites us to possess nothing materially for those who possess nothing, possesses all. With practice, I have been able to rid myself of the unease of silence. With God’s help, I can possess conscious attentiveness of the mission of my life.

 © Russell Kendall Carter

 To exult. . . to rejoice; to celebrate. Another definition is to boast. The word boast is often substituted for the word brag; but boast can also mean to revel, as in revelation. Let us exult in the grand expectations of this divine word. It is Advent, the season of exultation. We await the spiritual rebirth of our Rabbi, Jesus. This is truly of time of celebration and revelation. We are sanctified by the life of Jesus; Jesus. . . whose wisdom was true 2100 years ago, is true today, and will be true for ever.

One of the Beatitudes offers a blessing to the pure in heart. We are these for we do not walk in darkness; we walk on the lighted path Jesus paved for us. God never asks us to walk alone. We have the Holy Spirit as our travelling companion always. We are God’s children and through Jesus our sins are forgiven.

Heavenly Father, we are blessed by your bringing us together, opening the door of righteousness, and inviting us to bring Your wishes to our world, protecting us from the ruin surrounding us. Our lives are sacred by Your Grace. We celebrate and exult the teachings of Your Son and our eternal Rabbi, Jesus.

 © Russell Kendall Carter

_{Listen! There is a knock on the door. Please don’t ignore this. I spent many years avoiding this, this invitation to listen. When I finally opened the door, my life changed so drastically that I could not believe that God blessed me as He did. I changed my path and never looked back.}

_{From the upper room, I read the following and share with you: “When the path is simple, peace. When the way is complicated, peace. May Christ not only show you the way but also be the way you travel the way of blessing, way of peace.”}

_{God sent us Jesus to show us the way. Too often, we ignore this, even when we attend church every week.}

_{This is why I turned to meditation. I have been able to open my mind and heart to listen to the words of God’s messenger for eternal life. In these moments, I expand the room in my life for God to dwell. I am able to live to my strongest calling. I also know that for me to allow the messenger to enter, I must be still. I must create the space within me allowing me to grow spiritually and share this with all whom I meet.}

_{I have no qualms about meeting knew people, inviting them to be my friend, and talking with them about their lives. This is my mission as invited by the messenger. Answer the knock on the door.}

_{It may be the Messenger bringing a new life, or at least a new direction for you to investigate.}

_{© Russell Kendall Carter}

When I was a child, like all children, I could not wait for Christmas. When I was ten years old, I wanted a new bicycle with a basket on the front and two on the back. I was a paperboy with a growing number of people who wanted the newspaper. I did not get it. I was greatly disappointed. We just could not afford the cost. But each year I wanted the same thing.

As a father, my wife and I wanted to give all we could for our children, and we did. We bought dolls; we bought games; we bought star wars stuff. In spite of our overindulgence, our two children turned out to be normal, productive, and generous people with families of their own. Yes, we still exchange gifts, and we still overindulge when sending gifts to our two under ten grandsons in New Mexico. In our western Christian world, we do try to outdo each other in our emulation of the three wisemen of biblical lore.

In my life of meditation and prayer, I often read the Beatitudes in Matthew, then turn to His teaching the way to pray in Mattew 6. This praise to God brings a warmness in my heart every time I read it. When I repeat it either verbally or silently, I always read the words. Each word is a gem I do not want to miss. And yes, when I was young and in Sunday school, I had to memorize it, and even at seventy-eight, I remember it, but I cherish the words and read as I recite.

This is referred to as the Greatest Prayer.

This is the greatest Christmas gift. This prayer then leads us to pray for others; this leads us to live a life of prayer. Truly, the Greatest Christmas Gift is Prayer.

© Russell Kendall Carter

When I think back to my youth, I remember that my very old father spent a great amount a time reading his Bible and his Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy. I know he believed in an afterlife. I also know that every time I think of him, he is with me. I know what he believed theologically. He knew that he would be with God when his physical body died. When he became very sick, I did not prolong his life because I knew he longed for this meeting.

I am now a few years younger than when he died. I do not know what God has in store for me, but I do know that as my father did, I expect to be in God’s true world after my body perishes. I trust Jesus when he says that all things are possible for those who truly believe. I am not anxious about the future for I trust God. God supplies every spiritual and eternal need that I celebrate in the rebirth of Jesus in our lives this Advent.

I trust God in everything I do; everything I need is within my by the will of God. Every thought that arises comes from the richness and glory of God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus.

 © Russell Kendall Carter

We spend too much time waiting for something good to happen; this includes our desire awaiting God to come to us. We sometimes refuse to recognize that the Holy Spirit resides within us. I love Paul’s letter to the Hebrews: “Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13: 7). God dwelled within them; God also dwells within us.

When we finally let God in, then we are able to ask others to let us come into their lives, learn their stories, find out how they feel, and then invite them to ask us for help. Then we are sharing the love that Jesus taught. When our hearts touch other hearts, then God’s Love lives within us and thrives in our heart spaces. Together we emulate Jesus as our model for what it means to live in and from our hearts. We begin to live the ethics that Jesus taught; as it is written, true joy can survive the harshest of circumstances for it depends on God’s promises for our infinite future.

As we share our stories and our love, we are then champions for God’s Goodness on earth, bringing peace and heaven on earth. Let us follow the ethical teachings of Jesus; let us recognize and share God’s Truth.

© Russell Kendall Carter

The only place we find sanctuary is with God. We are temples of God; God’s Good inhabits our very souls; God walks with us; we are His children. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you” (3:16). Our bodies are tabernacles for the Holy Spirit and with this presence we rise to God’s experience His altar on high. We are chosen to be his voice on earth; in a word we are all His priests calling others to join us in our quest to rise from the darkness of our decadent society and walk in the marvelous light of Truth and Love. Praise to God.

I am empowered by the Holy Spirit; I walk in God’s light; I praise God; I allow my mind to empty for God’s words. When I pray, I do not ask anything of God; I merely want to dwell in His uplifting Grace. The Apostle John reminds us, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (7:37)” I invite all whom I meet to find this sanctuary of God.

As I examine my life, I accept that I find my sanctuary waiting for me in my meditations and prayers. First, I pray as Jesus taught me: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your Name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.”

This prayer of praise, supplication, and intercession is a call for all humanity to walk as Jesus walked. When God calls us, we open our hearts to His Love and Truth. We find ourselves

 safe in our sanctuary, protected by His Grace.

© Russell Kendall Carter